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That’snotwhat this is about. I remind myself.
“So, I had lunch with Olivia today,” he begins with a sorrowful tone. My spine bolts up straighter because I need to know what happened here. I need to find out so if there is something I must do to make things right with Olivia, then I can.
I think.
“So we had lunch, and I told her all about the past. About why I haven’t been in her life… not that there is any excuse for that.”
My eyebrows knot together curiously. “And why is that?”
Not my place, but the question is out there now. I can’t reel it back in however hard I try. But much to my surprise, Elijah answers me with ease.
“June and I were very young when she got pregnant, and we were both easily manipulated by my father.” His fists curl into angry balls. “He told me that he’d paid her off, and that she didn’t want to see me anymore, and he made June believe that I skipped town because I didn’t want anything to do with her and the baby. It’s no excuse but I think we both assumed that we didn’t want to be in one another’s lives and we were trying to respect those decisions.”
“Until the night of the accident,” I gasp out in shock.
Because I have never known much about her family, I had made my own judgments. But now I’m starting to realize there is much more to what happened in the past. It isn’t for me to hate Elijah because no matter what happened, he seems to regret it all now.
“Getting the call must have been a shock.”
“Well, I thought it was going to be a chance for me to make it all right. But even as I tried to explain all of this, Olivia shut down. She didn’t want to hear it at all. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m feeling kinda…worked up because it seems like she will hate me forever.”
I don’t even think about what I’m doing. I edge my fingers forward and rest my hand on top of his, trying to comfort Elijah just as I would do anyone else. But I’m immediately reminded that this isn’t just anyone else. This is Elijah and there is a burning electricity between us.
I could whip my hand away, I know Elijah would understand.
But I don’t. I leave it there because I can sense how much he needs to know that he isn’t alone.
“I really do think that Olivia will come around,” I say, trying my best to reassure him. “It might take some time, but she will process everything and come around. She will see that you are trying and give you a chance.”
I would offer to help him as much as I can, but I don’t think that’s a good plan.
Not when she isn’t talking to me very much because she isn’t happy. But if she does, I will.
I’ll do whatever I can.
ChapterThirteen
ELIJAH
I have to admit it’s making me feel so much better, being around Isabella. I had been sinking lower and lower with every passing moment ever since that lunch because I kept trying to pinpoint where I went wrong and why my daughter walked away from me, but Isabella has framed it in a way that makes everything look a little brighter.
It’s so simple, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it myself.
She’s processing everything.
Working through it all in her mind. Olivia is trying to make it all make sense and all I need to do now is give her time and space.
I can do that.
No problem. No trouble at all…
“So, you have been working?” I point towards Isabella’s laptop. “I see you doing that a lot. You must have a very important job.”
“Oh, I don’t know about important, but one that keeps me very busy.”
She eyes me, trying to see if I am still interested, I really am and she must see that. I do actually want to know more about her.
“I’m a freelance writer,” she continues, “and I have a lot of work at the moment. I didn’t exactly plan for an island vacation in my schedule.”
